Road Test: Samsung ES8000 Series HDTV

It's the first television in the world with integrated gesture and voice control in the set, meaning you can control it with a wave of your palm. We took a real "hands off" look at one of the latest Internet TVs from Samsung.

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The Samsung ES 8000 series is the latest descendant of Internet TVs and, in its connectivity and app options, it looks like any Samsung Smart TV we've seen. That's because, with this offering, the real innovation isn't in the design; it's in how you interact with it. The 8000 integrates a camera into the bezel above the screen that can recognize hand gestures and offers voice control. In theory, you'd never have to worry about losing the remote again with this set.

With social media, app markets, and Internet content booming, manufacturers are continually looking for ways to integrate social connectivity and leverage cloud services in their latest products. While cell phones can stream music and video, who wants to watch a Netflix season of "How I Met Your Mother" on a 3-inch screen? To accommodate the mobile media craze, television manufacturers have been integrating wireless connectivity and app markets directly into "Internet TVs" for the past couple years. The general idea of Samsung's Smart TVs is to bring all of the convenience of Internet video and media content to the big (television) screen.

While we've certainly spent time with Internet-connected televisions before, this was our first chance to evaluate voice and gesture control. The gesture function was very fun to play with and intuitive to learn thanks to an easy-to-read banner that appears when you raise your hand explaining basic gesture motions. After a while, though, our shoulders and arms began to tire after holding them in the air for a prolonged amount of time while browsing the Web or playing the native games like, Angry Birds. The gesture control could be a bit finicky at times, sometimes requiring the action to be repeated over and over before we got the desired response. We had less trouble with this as we got used to the machine and the motions.

On the other hand, the voice recognition software was as flawless as any we've seen when handling any of the predetermined commands (a list of standard options pops up when you say "Hi TV"). However, if you deviate from that list, the Samsung asks you to repeat your response, rather than prompting a valid command.

We also found that having the camera integrated into the TV made apps like Skype even more fun to use, putting the big screen to use as a video-calling machine. We even used the built-in face recognition software to log us in and out of our Skype accounts, but found that the traditional password method was still easier to use, as many times it required multiple captures of a face before Skype would let us log in. And, of course, if you just want to take a break from the high tech, the Samsung comes with a standard remote, as well as a cutting edge Smart Touch remote with a touchpad, for more seamless navigation.

All things considered, we were very impressed by the feature-packed, trailblazing Samsung ES8000 series Smart TV. It offers a unique perspective into the future of television and media interaction. While the apps and functionality are limited currently, it is easy to imagine plenty of applications in the near future. With some refinement, we can imagine a future where we just say hello or wave goodbye to the family TV to enjoy all our favorite games and apps in high definition.